1. Prior Art
A machine may be created that is then operated by a control system referred herein to as a “Computer”. During operation of this machine, the computer may need to ascertain the position of various mechanical elements, referred singly herein to as an “Axis”. The axis may be moved relative to the other components of the machine and or to some fixed position relative to a location in which the machine is installed. For machines for which the movement is rotational, the position of the axis is generally reported as an angle in degrees from some arbitrary origin where that origin is reasonably expected to be the same from one use of the machine to the next. In the course of the design of the computer and machine, the angular position of the axis may be represented in the standard form in the art of 0 to 360 degrees or as an arbitrary range of values which may then be translated to the standard form or used as is. An example of an arbitrary range would be 0 to 9,999 counts wherein a count would generally be the smallest increment of rotation that can be measured. As is generally accepted and would be familiar to one skilled in the art, the “Resolution” of an axis measurement will interchangeably be referred to as the smallest increment of angle which is represented by one count or as the total number of incremental counts which comprises a full rotation about the axis. By way of example, a resolution of one degree would generally be considered as being interchangeably referred to as a resolution of 360 counts.
The computer that controls the machine may get its axis position data from sensors known as encoders, which may be of the incremental or absolute types for example. Each axis within the machine may utilize encoders of the same type or may combine different types as dictated by the design of the system. Ultimately, whatever type of encoder is employed, these encoders will produce within the computer a grouping of digital bits that represent the position of the sensed axis. These bits may then be interpreted and or acted upon as required by the design of the system.
Incremental encoders count, or emits pulses that represent the finite increments of rotation of the axis to which they are coupled. These pulses generally contain no information about the actual absolute position of the axis but usually will indicate the direction of rotation. Generally, an incremental encoder will be coupled either directly to the axis of rotation or, for example, to the drive motor of a geared down system in order enhance the resolution of the encoder by means of multiplication of the number of rotations of the encoder versus the rotation of the axis to which it is coupled. The absolute position will generally be established at the beginning of operation by moving the axis to a known location, herein referred to as the “Home” position. After establishing this initial position about the axis, the computer may then count increments in either direction of rotation and thus move to any desired angle of the axis represented by a specific number of those increments. If when the computer is powered down, the count of increments to the known home position is lost and therefore the current position about the axis is unknown, then the computer must reestablish the home position every time it is powered up. This is especially true if the axis has the possibility of being moved while the computer is off or is otherwise unable to sense this movement. When undetected movement is possible, even the retention of a “Current” count through means such as a battery backed up memory for example will not ensure proper positioning upon returning to normal operation. It must be noted that this incremental encoder may not always be an actual sensor but may be intrinsic to the operation of the drive system, as is the case when the computer counts commanded incremental steps of movement of a synchronous drive motor, herein referred to as a “Stepper motor”. In the case of a computer which counts stepper motor increments, a loss of position information may occur should a step of movement not occur as commanded, commonly referred to as a “Stall” or when an external force is applied which exceeds the ability of the stepper motor to maintain its expected position, commonly referred to as “Cogging”.
Absolute encoders overcome the loss of position shortcoming inherent to incremental encoders as they are generally capable of reporting position information for a sensing element coupled to the axis that they are meant to sense, without the need of repeated initialization with regards to their position about that axis or the maintenance of power at all times. Absolute encoders have been realized in a variety of manners including optical disks with one or more patterns that directly represent the angular position of the pattern, “Synchros” which are rotating transformers with windings with specific phase-to-position relationships that may be translated to a digital form with electronics and magnetic field position sensing encoders. The benefits of an absolute encoder of a given resolution may generally be considered to come at a significant cost premium versus an incremental encoder capable of the same resolution, this added cost most generally stemming from a significant increase in complexity of manufacture for the absolute encoder versus the incremental encoder. An absolute encoder of “n+1” bits will represent an increase in resolution that is double that of an encoder of “n” bits, so for two absolute encoders of similar design even one more bit of resolution may be found to incur a significant difference in cost. Where a requirement of encoder bits causes the cost of a desirable absolute encoder to exceed the available monetary resources of a particular project, the system designer may be forced to employ a lower cost incremental encoder of equivalent resolution, while forgoing the advantages that an absolute encoder would have afforded. Alternatively, the system designer may select an absolute encoder of lower resolution that desired to retain the benefits of the absolute encoder.
An absolute encoder of greater resolution than the basic form as described above would permit may be realized in what is known in the art as a “Multi-turn” absolute encoder. A multi-turn absolute encoder typically utilizes the resolution multiplication technique of the geared-up incremental encoder described above. An example of a prior art multi-turn absolute encoder employs an integrated speed-reducing gears that is then coupled to a turn counting device. Common limitations for the accuracy of an encoder where speed reduction gears are employed includes but is not limited to, errors from backlash, mechanical alignment or mechanical wear. Of particular concern to the system designer, these errors would be separate from and typically uncorrelated to, the same mechanical errors within the axis drive train to which the encoder is coupled. A second example of a prior art multi-turn absolute encoder is the magnetic bubble counting type that while not necessarily manifesting the same mechanical error sources of the gear reduction apparatus, introduces its own shortcomings including costs commensurate with the complexities of realization, all of which may not be trivial to a system designer.
2. Objects and Advantages
Accordingly, besides the advantages of absolute encoders as generally stated above, the objects and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) to produce an enhanced absolute position reading from a plurality of absolute encoders of lower resolution than the desired resolution of the enhanced absolute position reading;
(b) to utilize mechanical elements within an existing mechanical system or an ancillary mechanical element for the purpose of resolution multiplication;
(c) to enable a convenient and economical installation of the absolute encoders upon the existing mechanical system or the ancillary mechanical element with minimal regard to the actual mechanical alignment of the encoders;
(d) to provide a means by which a mechanical and or temporal alignment between the encoders which stems from the installation of the encoders may be reduced or eliminated; and
(e) to provide a mathematical means to predict the operational limits of the enhanced absolute position sensor system.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.